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  • Welcome to the new site. Here's a thread about the update where you can post your feedback, ask questions or spot those nasty bugs!

Birds Near Your Home and in the 'hood!

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Red capped dotterel.

We were the only ones on the beach today

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Neatly seen and framed with nice isolation from the b.g.?glad you didn't sharpen every feather buy my left it just right to still seem fluffy!

BTW, did you schlepp a large lens or was this something like. 50mm and you were close enough or cropped the shot?

Asher
 

Andy brown

Well-known member
Thanks Asher,
I like these little guys, any bird that spends its entire existence at the beach has won me over.
They are normally a bit tricky to shoot cos their comfort range is about 5-6 metres and they are tiny.
This one was young and a bit confused I think. I managed to lie down on the sand and shuffle towards him to a distance of about 3 metres.
240 mm lens and a bit of a crop.
P.s, the sand was lovely and wet from 4 days of rain.
 

Andy brown

Well-known member
This is a yellow robin a bush bird and as I live in the bush I think it's fair to say he's part of the hood.


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Andy brown

Well-known member
Yesterday I went down to the lake for a swim (it's warmer the than the ocean at the moment so it's my go to spot) and I saw a couple of pied oystercatchers who seemed fairly unperturbed by my presence.

Didn't take the camera (gives self uppercut!).

I've been trying for a decent shot of an oystercatcher and have stalked them on beaches with no great success, they are flighty when I'm within 18-20 metres of them.

Anyway, today, I was off for my get fit churn up and down the lake and realised I had left the camera behind again so I turned around, grabbed the kit and set off again.

Sure enough, there they were.
I have an old 300 ml lens and it is not great for wildlife but my stalking techniques are pretty good and I did the belly crawl to 5 metres.

I happy with this.

They are considered endangered (where I live is a major stronghold for them however).





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Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Green Parrots in Beverly Hills!


There is a small flock of parrots in the palm tree topps in Northern Beverly Hills.


I thought I was shooting some more common doves, biut was surprised when I chimped on the LCD screen.


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Asher Kelman: Green Parrots of Beverly Hills #1
Canon 7D 70-200 L IS II, x 1.4 Extender


I do not imagine that this unnatural addition to the local wildlife damages the ecosystem, but it does demostrate how we can accidentally change the course of wildlife patterns.


Enjoy
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
I've gotten a few more photos at my back yard bird feeders:

wcspar13.jpg


Doug Herr: An Immature White-Crowned Sparrow





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Doug Herr: A Pair of Western Bluebirds



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Doug Herr: An Immature Golden-Crowned Sparrow



The Golden-crowned Sparrow is one of the more wary species in my yard and this year I think there's only one of these here. It should have its adult plumage before migrating north in the spring and I'm hoping to (finally) get a good picture of the adult plumage.




Thanks, Doug for giving me the new links to help me repairing this wonderful thread. I also am learning more from each of these posts as I try to catch up on identifying these superb creatures.

Asher
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Fresh cut lawn seems to bring more birds!

I think this is a dove!


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Asher Kelman: "Dove"

Canon 7D 70-200 2.8L IS



Can you correctly identify it?


Asher
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Looking it up, it's a mourning dove. or rain dove. Here is a wiki page on it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mourning_dove

Thanks, Maggie,

...for the visit and the perfect checking for me! Much appreciated on both counts.

I named it a “Dove”, not from any specific taxonomical knowledge, but because, unlike a common pigeon, it seems pristine and more princely and beautiful. My landing on the word “Dove” was therefore little more than my romantic ideas of these creatures as being “elegant loving Citizens” and ruling out birds like, eagle, crow, thrush, robin, blue jay and a few more I recognize!

Actually, there are hundreds of millions in North America and they are a staple of the hunters who need to shoot things to justify the myriads of guns collected and hunting groups.

The meat of the deboned breast is dry with essential no fat at all, (because these are migrating birds and using all the fuel they take on board). The meat is dark and easy to make impossible to eat by proplonged coming as it gets drier.

Not for me, but wrapping the deboned breast in baked, apparently adds flavor to the more gamy dark meat. Or else one can marionate the breast over night.

I would get a syringe and do a series of injections with chicken fat before the marination!

Anyway, promise I will not shoot them!

Asher
 
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